Duman Giray (1918-1919: Germany's Last Stand)
'Duman Giray '(May 21, 1920-October 30, 1993, age 73) was a soldier and later on commander of the Turkish Red Army. He was promoted to the Head General of the Turkish Red Army in 1986, at the age of 66. The Turkish Red Army led a coup against the liberalizing Turkish Peoples Republic on April 2, 1993, and Duman Giray became the "Peacekeeping General of Turkey" on April 10, 1993, at the age of 72. He was promoted to Supreme Leader of Turkey on May 1, 1993, a role which gave him dictatorial powers, this made him the last leader of communist Turkey. On October 28, 1993, the OTD (Organization of Turkish Democracy) began a revolution against the military junta led by Giray, he was killed in the revolution. Early life Giray was born on May 21, 1920 near Feres, Greece, his family was a Turkish family and at the age of 2 he moved to Istanbul in October 1922. His family were hardline communists, and he was taught Marxism-Leninism from a young age in the OPR (Ottoman Peoples Republic). First time in the military, imprisonment in Axis occupied Turkey On October 4, 1939, with the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Giray joined the Ottoman Red Army. He fought against Kurdish rebels in the southeast, and was wounded on March 28, 1940 by a frag grenade. He continued to become the leader of his squad, but when Turkey was surprise invaded on June 22, 1941 by the Axis Powers, his forces deployed to the Straits of Istanbul, the Battle of Istanbul unfolded on July 1-3, 1941, and ultimately ended in a Axis victory. He was captured trying to get away from Istanbul and sent to a prison camp in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. He nearly died of starvation multiple times, once fainting on July 25, 1943, with another prisoner, who was a young Turkish medic, reviving him. He escaped prison on January 9, 1945, and turned himself in to Soviet forces in Romania on January 20, 1945. The Soviets initially mistaken him for a German soldier who was surrendering. However, once they retrieved him, they determined that he was a Turkish prisoner of war and recruited him into the Soviet Red Army, he was wounded in the Battle of Berlin on April 29, 1945, and was returned to Turkey on March 1, 1946, after 5 years. He would later learn that his prisonmate, a young 20-year old Turkish medic, was killed by German forces as Soviet troops approached. Life between first and second military services He returned to Istanbul on March 2, 1946, just to discover that only his dad had survived German occupation, as his brother and mother had starved to death. He became a local politician for the Turkish Communist Party in 1948, becoming Leader of the Istanbul Socialist Republic (one of the 5 socialist republics of Turkey) in 1950. In 1957, he joined the Peoples Congress, and shortly later became the Minister of Turkish Media in 1958. By 1960, he decided to rejoin the Turkish Red Army. Second military service, leadership and death On May 1, 1960, he resigned as Minister of Turkish Media, and joined the Turkish Red Army on May 5, 1960. He quickly rose through the ranks, continuing to fight in the Kurdish Conflict, before becoming commander on October 14, 1962. Only a few hours after he became commander, the Cuban Missile Crisis began following the Americans deployment of ICBM launchers in Italy, Greece and West Germany. The Soviets responded by deploying their ICBM launchers to Turkey, Yugoslavia and East Germany. Giray played a vital role in decreasing tensions, convincing the Americans to withdraw ICBM's from Italy and the Soviets to withdraw them from Turkey. His head was grazed by a bullet on October 21, 1965, and was put on life support. He barely pulled through and was released from hospital on December 1, 1965. He continued to fight, getting wounded twice between 1965 and 1986, once on May 21, 1970 in a attempted assassination attempt, and another time on October 1, 1984. He was promoted to Head General of the Turkish Red Army on January 1, 1986, at the age of 66, and he exploited the role to get his friends into high ranking roles, essentially taking over the government by 1989. The Turkish government caught on and on January 1, 1990, reduced the roles of the Head General of the Turkish Red Army. He was wounded in a failed coup attempt in 1992, and he became horrified of the increasing westernization of the Turkish Peoples Republic through 1992 into early 1993. Feeling confident that he had enough influence, he managed to convince the Turkish Red Army to defect on April 2, 1993, and overthrow the government. The president of Turkey was killed and the government in place since 1980 was dissolved. A military junta was proclaimed on April 7, 1993, and he was promoted to Peacekeeping General of Turkey on April 10, essentially dictator. On May 1, he took the responsibility of Supreme Leader of Turkey, essentially giving him total control over the nation. He immediately enacted extremist laws, that many compare to those of Stalin or Mao. He finally opened a Turkish embassy in Pyongyang on July 25, 1993, and violence became rampant in August 1993, a failed coup occurred on September 5, 1993 while he was visiting Beijing. By October 15, he declared himself the sole leader of Turkey, dissolving the government and making the country his personal property. On October 28, a revolution broke out in Istanbul and Ankara, he began panicking as the revolution in Ankara began only a few blocks from his residence. The revolution spread violently through Turkey on October 29. He was woken up to a American air raid on Ankara shortly before sunrise on October 30, 1993. At around noon on October 30, a American air strike struck his residence, killing him and severely injuring his wife. The communist government in Turkey would collapse on November 2 officially, with all remaining high ranking members of the Turkish Red Army turning themselves in. On November 3, the 1993 Turkish revolution ended in a democratic victory. The Republic of Turkey was proclaimed on November 4.